What Comes with Success – the Highs and Lows

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I haven’t written in a while and, well, it’s probably because I have been busy with this new venture. Yes, success has found us and we are managing a full staff of about 25 and doubled in size. Although I am happy to have found success, I haven’t handled it exactly as I thought I would. 

At family dinner, I mentioned being a little sad about all the changes. I thought I was being ungrateful and overdramatic but my children shared situations were leveling up in their lives was wonderful but sad for them too. 

As many of my long-time clients know, my daughter Brooke is a competitive cheerleader. Success found her too. She won every major competition in her sport and is a champion level 4 team. This year, Brooke moved up to level 5 in cheer and was super excited about it. Going to a higher level meant saying goodbye to some friends and learning new skills. She had tackled new tumbling skills and was ready for more. 

During the family dinner, I found out how mentally strong she had become. 15-year-old Brooke recognized that she was leaving a very successful team. She thought about the risk of success with the new team. Would the team put in the necessary work for success? Will she be an asset to the team? I didn’t realize how scary it was for her. 

My Eldest, Becca mentioned that she also had these mourning periods that hit her at every stage of growth. After high school graduation and college graduation, there were intense times of sadness. Saying goodbye to the old self to the new self and meeting milestones that were all great things but not quite what she expected. New job, new life, would she be successful? Would she thrive?

This is not a pity party. I understand that saying this out loud to some people is totally a first-world problem. Poor you! You have success. 

This post is not really about the success, but how you handle it going forward. Scaling your company, adding new team members, and changing roles are all normal things that happen in a growing business. It’s healthy and necessary. However, just because its healthy and normal doesn’t mean there won’t be some mourning of what was. 

I saw a message online that said, “your new life is going to cost you your old one.” That feels kinda scary to me. I like my life. In fact, I would never have agreed to the growth if I couldn’t keep lots of the old me and people in my business. I can’t tell you how much of the success came from some of the “old.” It felt a little drastic.

When meeting with potential clients, these issues are the hardest to work through. Many people hold themselves back from leveling up because they don’t know if they can perform at a higher level. They don’t hire the new salesperson because they’re afraid he or she will fail. They don’t try new things because it’s not going to be exactly as they envisioned, or they don’t have the money to do it right.

The fear of failure is everywhere and runs rampant in most organizations every minute of every single day. A fearful management team is a breeding ground for insecure and equally fearful employees.

The fear of success is equally scary. What if I do succeed and I can’t fulfill my promises? What if I grow this company and I can’t handle it? People sabotage themselves regularly without even knowing.

The fear of failure and fear of success are equally damaging to any organization and it stagnates the growth. A stagnant company just like stagnant water gets smelly, poisonous and toxic. This stagnation leads to death.

The conversation left me feeling reassured and renewed.  It helped me to recognize that it is okay to be sad about the changes, but success requires me to keep on moving. There are new levels to conquer and new skills to acquire. It helps me to remember my gifts and talents and why I am here.

We are here to help business owners realize their dreams, and this means helping them let go of the old and embrace the new. Growing company owners need a strong partner in their accounting department so that they can keep their eyes forward. Never looking back and reducing the fears all around. 

With that being said, HELLO success! You are so welcome here!

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